1.Lendy
Ltd complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that The Daily
Telegraph breached Clause 1 (Accuracy) of the Editors’ Code of Practice in an
article headlined “Watchdog investigates Lendy Finance aid default concerns”,
published on 9 October 2017. The article was also published online with the
headline: Lendy Finance’s property valuations in FCA spotlight.

2.The
article reported that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was “understood to
be poring over the books of Lendy Finance amid growing concerns over the
peer-to-peer lender’s property valuations and the methodology the wider
industry uses evaluate defaults”. The article reported that the complainant had
said that “as part of our application for full FCA authorisation, we meet with
the FCA on a regular basis”.

3.The
complainant said that it was categorically untrue that it was being
investigated by the FCA. It said that the FCA were at its offices only as part
of its application for full FCA authorisation. It said that the headline
had no basis in fact, and was grossly misleading.

4.The
newspaper said that it had been told by a confidential source that the FCA had
visited the complainant in connection with concerns about its default positions
and how property valuations were made. It said that it contacted the
complainant prior to publication, to ask for its response to this information.
It said that the complainant’s response was reported in the article. The
newspaper said that it was not unreasonable to summarise the FCA's visit
as an “investigation” in the headline - where the article made clear the basis
for this.

Relevant
Code Provisions

5.Clause
1 (Accuracy)

i) The Press
must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information
or images, including headlines not supported by the text.

ii) A
significant inaccuracy, misleading statement or distortion must be corrected,
promptly and with due prominence, and — where appropriate — an apology
published. In cases involving IPSO, due prominence should be as required by the
regulator.

iii) A fair
opportunity to reply to significant inaccuracies should be given, when
reasonably called for.

iv) The Press,
while free to editorialise and campaign, must distinguish clearly between
comment, conjecture and fact.

Mediated
Outcome

6. The complaint was not resolved through direct correspondence between
the parties. IPSO therefore began an investigation into the matter.

7. Following IPSO’s intervention, the newspaper offered to publish the
following wording on page 2 of its Business section, and as a footnote to the
online article:

Lendy Finance

Following our 9 Oct article, "Watchdog investigates Lendy Finance
amid default concerns", we wish to make clear that the company is not
under investigation as part of a formal FCA enquiry. Lendy has further asked us
to put its position that the FCA visit on which the article reported was a
routine part of the company's application for full FCA authorisation. We are
happy to do so.

8. The complainant
said that this would resolve the matter to its satisfaction.

9. As
the complaint was successfully mediated, the Complaints Committee did not make
a determination as to whether there had been any breach of the Code.